On YouTube, the documentary about emigration from Italy to South Africa

As I was explaining in a previous post, I had the fortunate chance to be involved in the creation of a documentary about emigration, thanks to the documentary maker Joseph Péaquin.

(If you missed it, read my previous post: A documentary about emigration from Valle d’Aosta to South Africa)

This video narrates 3 stories of emigrants from the Italian mountain region Valle d’Aosta to South Africa.

I appear in the initial part, introducing the first story, that of my customer Ariane and her ancestor Pierre Fromage.

The premiere was held on March 14th in Aosta, at a cinema hall with about 250 people, which was quite embarassing for me, as I am a shy person.

The cinema hall in Aosta: in a few minutes, it will be fully crowded

Anyway, forget about me and enjoy the three stories narrated in this excellent documentary!

My customer Ariane, who is the star of this video!

The documentary is subtitled in English and there are English-spoken parts, too.

The first story is that of Ariane’s great grandfather, who left Italy at the beginning of the 20th century and emigrated to South Africa: a very uncommon destination for Italian emigration!

Valle d’Aosta is a small, mountain region situated in North-West Italy, at the border with France and Switzerland, and the main language spoken in the region is French.

Today, it is a destination for mountain sports lovers, as Italy’s top peaks are in this area, but along with new business, the production of traditional products is still one of the main activities: the cheese, lard and wine from Valle d’Aosta are Italian excellences!

As you will see in the video, one of the emigrants from Valle d’Aosta exported the cultivation of wine grapes to South Africa.

Me talking in the video

A documentary about emigration from Valle d’Aosta to South Africa

I am so happy that I had a small role in this documentary about the emigration from the Italian region Valle d’Aosta to South Africa!

I am very grateful to the film maker Joseph Péaquin for involving me in this amazing job!

Here is the trailer of the documentary, whose preview will be in Aosta on March 14th, 2024.

It all started with serendipity: I was doing genealogical research at the Diocese Archive in Aosta last year and I told the archivist that my Customer’s ancestor emigrated from Valle d’Aosta to South Africa.

The archivist told me that a documentary was going to be made about emigration from that region to South Africa, and that the Producer may have been interested in my Customer’s story.

One year later, both my Customer and I appear in the same video!

Despite my shyness and my absolute embarassment and inadequacy in front of a video camera, it was a great experience!

Don’t miss the other documentary about emigration from Valle d’Aosta to the USA, which was made last year.

Best Italian Archives: Vigevano diocese

Genealogical research = registers, archives, folders, records, shelves…

Genealogical research in Italy = all the above, in an ancient baroque chapel!!!

This is the brand new Vigevano Diocese Archive, so far the most beautiful I ever visited.

Besides being pleasant for your soul and mood, working in this archive is also perfect in terms of efficiency: parish registers are at hand, there is no limit to the number of books which is possible to collect and – last but not least at all! – the staff is extremely nice and helpful! Thank you to everybody!

I will soon post a selection of the worst archives where I worked, so that you do not start thinking it’s always like this.

Sharing Cheryl’s experience

I recently had the pleasure to meet the novel writer Cheryl Ossola and guide her to the discovery of her family history in the area of Val Ceresio, in Lombardia.

I am sharing the beautiful post she wrote after this ancestry tour experience. Enjoy!

Finding family in Lombardia and Liguria by Cheryl A. Ossola

The ancient cemetery of Viggiù that I visited with Cheryl